Texas Sites

The University of North Texas's Chilton Hall was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The P.W.A. provided roughly $209,000 for the construction of it and Chilton Hall. "UNT received PWA grants for two more dorms, one for men and one for women in 1938. The women’s dorm was named Terrill Hall, after the third president, and last president of the private normal, Menter B. Terrill. It was located between Sycamore and Mulberry Streets. The dorm had no cafeteria, residents crossed the street to take their meals at Marquis Hall."

Texas A&M's old creamery building was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project during the Great Depression. The building, whose exact location on campus is presently unknown to Living New Deal, has since been demolished. The PWA supplied a $12,200 grant toward the $42,251 total cost of the project. Work occurred between August and December 1934. (PWA Docket No. TX 5803)

Thanks to a Federal grant from the Public Works Administration of $108,000 awarded in 1938, East Texas State Teachers College (now Texas A&M University–Commerce) was able to build the East Dormitory for Girls (now Henderson Hall). Henderson Hall is now houses the School of Social Work, the Department of Psychology, Counseling, and Special Education, student health services and the university police.

In 1934, East Texas State Teachers College (now Texas A&M University–Commerce) requested $123,000 from the Public Works Administration (PWA) to build a dormitory for male students. A few months later, the PWA approved $106,000 for the project. The college added $10,000 and the groundbreaking occurred in July 1935. The dorm opened a year later. The university had the building demolished in February 2008.

In 1938, when it was still called Texas A&I College the WPA provided funds and workers to reconstruct bleachers and fence at the athletic field, construct dressing rooms, pave campus drives and beautify grounds. Texas A&M University-Kingsville grew out of the teacher college or "normal school" movement that swept Texas and the nation in the early 1900s. Chartered in 1917 but not opened until 1925 because of America's entry into World War I, the University is the oldest continuously operating public institution of higher learning in South Texas. Shortly after beginning life as South Texas State Teachers College, its role was...

A Harold Everett "Bubi" Jessen mural entitled "Pageant of Texas," created with funding from the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), hangs on a wall within the Colonial Era Mission of Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zuñiga, at the Goliad State Park and Historic Site. This mural once hung at the Texas State Capitol building.

Authorized by the River and Harbor Act of 1913, the Texas City Dike was to divert the flow of silt from the Texas City Ship Channel by steering the waters of Galveston Bay out to the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District constructed the first version of the dike in 1915 using timber pile construction. Dredging material from the Texas City Ship Channel was deposited on top of the timber pile, but the material eventually washed away. The Corps added a rubble-mound formation to the supplement the existing dike in 1931-1932 to stop the erosion. Around...

The community of Mineral Wells hoped for the State of Texas to establish a new state park near where the Bankhead Highway crossed the Brazos River. That plan failed to materialize, so the city offered its existing 70-acre city park to the state. Known as Millings Park at the time, it was designated SP-8 for development. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1811 arrived in Mineral Wells on June 17, 1933 and divided its time between the park and the nearby National Guard facility at Camp Wolters. The company left on January 2, 1934. The CCC built entrance portals, roads, stone stairs, a...

Between 1937 and 1938, the National Youth Administration (NYA) built a stone structure on the east side of Santa Anna, Texas for a Texas Ranger memorial museum and reunion hall. Funded by the citizens of Santa Anna, the complex was dedicated at a Texas Ranger reunion in August 1939. Texas Rangers operated in the Santa Anna area as early as the 1870s, with many of the Rangers settling in the area after their term of service ended. Former Rangers founded the Texas Ex-Rangers Association and held annual reunions around the state. Santa Anna hosted a reunion in 1935 and became a permanent...

The February 9, 1939 issue of the Bastrop Advertiser published a letter from Texas Senator Albert Stone advising Bastrop residents that bids would soon be accepted for the grading and drainage structure for nine miles of Texas State Highway 95 starting eight miles south of Elgin, near Sayersville, to Bastrop. The road had already been improved from Elgin to Sayersville and this would complete the connection to Bastrop. The Works Progress Administration was funding the $109,000 relief project with 30% of the cost expected to be spent on labor.

The three-story brick dormitory was named in honor of Miss Jessie A Sayers, who was a member of the original faculty of Southwest Texas State Normal School, as the university was first named. Under influence from alumnus Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson, the Public Works Administration provided a loan of $98,000 and a grant of $28,000 to fund the construction of the dormitory. The University demolished Sayers Hall and the Academic Services Building now stands in its place. The University also constructed a new residence hall that opened in 2014 and named it Sayers Hall.

The Public Works Administration allotted $650,000 to Texas Tech University to build two dormitories, one for men and one for women. $125,000 was a grant and $445,000 was a loan to be paid back over 30 years at 4% interest. Women's Dormitory No.1 (later named Doak Hall in honor of Mary W. Doak, Texas Tech's first Dean of Women) was built in 1934 based on the design of architect Wyatt C. Hedrick and cost $313,168. Doak Hall housed women until 1943. Men were housed in Doak from 1943 through the 1957-1958 academic years. Later on women were again housed in Doak...

The Public Works Administration allotted $650,000 to Texas Tech University to build two dormitories, one for men and one for women. $125,000 was a grant and $445,000 was a loan to be paid back over 30 years at 4% interest. Men's Dormitory No.1 was built in 1934 based on the design of architect Wyatt C. Hedrick and cost $326,713. The university renamed the building to J. M. West Hall in 1941. Originally housing up to 300 students, West Hall is now an administrative building housing a visitor's center, undergraduate admissions offices, registrar's office, student business services and the scholarship and financial...

Multiple New Deal agencies, including the Public Works Administration (P.W.A.), Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), and National Youth Administration (N.Y.A.), were involved in dramatically developing and transforming what was then the Texas State College for Women (now Texas Woman's University) in Denton. Federal assistance was responsible for several new buildings on campus in addition to other facilities such as a recently closed outdoor swimming pool. In all New Deal programs helped the institution effectively double its infrastructure.

This Art Deco School Building at 411 N Mound St, Nacogdoches, TX 75961 is a two-story facility with basement. A plaque identifies the building as a federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project.

The Throckmorton Fire Department was built with locally quarried limestone.

Tietze Park is a 9-acre park in the City of Dallas acquired in 1924. At that time it was named Keith Park. Ten years later it was renamed Tietze Park, after W.R. Tietze, who was Superintendent of Parks for the city from 1896-1933. The rustic style stone pavilion at the center of the park is a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, built in 1934.

On April 7, 1900, the Austin Dam, built in the 1890s across the Colorado River in Austin, Texas, failed catastrophically during a flood killing 47 people. The dam was rebuilt starting in 1909, but was destroyed again by flooding in 1915. The City of Austin was unable to raise funds to repair the dam until 1938 when Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson persuaded the Public Works Administration to finance rebuilding the dam at a cost of $2,300,000. The dam was renamed Tom Miller Dam for a former Austin mayor. Tom Miller Dam was built between 1938 and 1949 atop the remains of...

This stadium built or red iron ore rock was started with funds from the WPA in 1938. It is still home to the Jacksonville High School football and soccer teams.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the National Youth Administration (NYA) were involved in the construction of the Tonkawa Park in Crawford TX. According to the  Waco Tribune-Herald, "278 NYA youth contributed to building the park." Excerpt from Waco History: "During the Great Depression, the Texas Civil Works Administration funded the construction of Tonkawa Park, in an attempt to create jobs for locals. (The Civil Works Administration was a forerunner of the Works Progress Administration.) Crawford, given the choice of a city park or a city sewage system, chose the park. The close proximity of the beautiful Tonkawa Falls made their choice...

The Tornillo-Guadalupe International Bridge, known locally as the Fabens-Caseta Bridge, encouraged trade and commerce between the United States and Mexico for seventy-eight years (1938-2016), providing a symbolic and physical connection between the American and Mexican cultures. It was constructed a half mile southwest of this location in 1938 as part of the Rio Grande rectification project of the International Boundary Commission. It was demolished in 2016. This bridge, along with its sister bridge linking Fort Hancock, Texas, with El Porvenir, Chihuahua, were cornerstones of the rectification project stretching from El Paso, Texas, to Little Box Canyon south of Fort Quitman,...

The City of Orchard Town Center was originally constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as the Orchard School between 1940 and 1941 under the official project number 65-1-66-2586. Designed by architect Ernest L. Schult, the building had thirteen rooms and a combination auditorium and gymnasium. The WPA employed an average of 78 workers and spent $37,705.08. The Orchard Independent School District provided $64,566.79. As part of the same project, the WPA demolished the two-story 1924 Orchard High School and reused some of the materials in the new school.

Westover Hills is an independent community but many people who live there use "Fort Worth" in their address (Westover Hills shares the 76107 zip code with a portion of west Fort Worth). The town hall was constructed by the WPA in 1940 and was designed by Patterson and Teague, architects. The site includes a brick stairway down to the park in front of the hall as well as two bridges, all built by the WPA.

The WPA built a shelter in the park and did landscaping. According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram work on the park went from 1937-38.  (Despite the fact that the WPA plaque on the shelter in contrast has the dates 1935-37 on it).

This building was formerly Miller Manufacturing Company Building. The building was constructed for a garment factory in 1911 which occupied the building until 1922. From c. 1933-1935 it served as the location of the local Transient Bureau of the FERA. It was converted into the Miller Lofts in 2009. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on Oct 28, 2010.

A rock gym built as a WPA project. This was to be the gym for Snyder High School. Eventually a new high school was built and this became Travis Junior High. The building is in very good shape for an 80 year old structure. The hard maple basketball court floor remains as do four sets of folding bleachers. It remains in use for occasional Little Dribblers basketball and indoor golf practice.

Built through the Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1938 and 1939, this two story building is constructed of native limestone rock, with metal bars on the windows and doors. Has some cement ornamentation between the windows. Has a flat roof. Nice rounded entrance with rock benches on either side.

Under WPA project 5771, the WPA made over $26,000 worth of improvements to the park in 1937. WPA work in the park included the Trinity Park Shelter, and most likely many other improvements as well.

The State Highway 19 Bridge at the Trinity River on the Walker/Trinity county line, consists of two 250-foot Parker through truss spans, one 150-foot Parker through truss span, and 51 steel I-beam approach spans with a special metal picket-type rail. The project was a joint effort of the Federal Works Agency, Public Road Administration, the Texas Highway Department, and Walker and Trinity Counties. Work on the bridge project began in late 1939. It was completed in January of 1941 and opened in March of that year. The bridge was bypassed in 2003 by a new four-lane bridge to the south,...

Originally known as Strawn Lake, this 90-acre lake was constructed to supply water to the city of Strawn by damming Russell Creek. It was renamed Tucker Lake in honor of a mayor, and now is part of the recently created Palo Pinto State Park. ...November 23, 1936, Freese described his campaign to secure PWA financing for his firm's Texas clients: Today, I got Secretary Ickes' approval of Strawn ..." (Simon Freese, letter to Eunice Freese, November 23, 1936, as cited in Freese & Sizemore, undated).

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a road from the base of Tule Canyon to the top, circa 1940. The WPA made cuts and fills through the canyon, graded the road and paved it with caliche. The length of road built is now part of Texas State Highway 207. The official project number was 65-1-66-400.

A plaque on the former Tuleta Grade School indicates the Works Progress Administration constructed the building between 1938 and 1940. No other details on the original construction have been found. The building burned around 2002. It is now privately owned and has been partially restored.

In 1939, the Works Progress Administration (WPA)began improvements at Turtle Creek Park in Dallas TX.  The project was one of many undertaken in the area by the WPA and other New Deal agencies. “Widespread park improvements costing $34,000 have been announced at Dallas, Texas,” a writer for Parks & Recreation reported in January of 1939. “Included in the developments will be a new South Dallas community center, a golf course for Negroes and additional work in Robert E. Lee Park and also on the White Rock beautification program.” Dallas’s Robert E. Lee Park was renamed Turtle Creek Park after a vote by...

Roadside park with two picnic tables and barbecue pits. In addition to the original rock barbecue pits, there are new metals pits near the picnic tables. Text from onsite plaque: The picnic area on SH-19 in Hopkins County is an early roadside park developed by the Texas Highway Department - now Texas Department of Transportation. It was built from 1939-1940 using labor from the National Youth Administration. A federal works relief program. The park retains several of its original stone picnic fixtures. The Texas Highway Department launched its roadside park program in 1933 to provide safe places for motorists to relax and eat...

The current Tyler County Courthouse was built in 1891. Its original design was an eclectic mix of Victorian architectural styles popular at the time such as Second Empire, Romanesque Revival and Gothic Revival. In 1935, the Works Progress Administration put men to work renovating the structure. An exterior stair was added on the north side, a two-story addition was added on the south side, and various interior rooms were changed. The the clock tower was re-designed and the brick exterior was covered with stucco changing the look of the courthouse to a Moderne style. There is a project currently underway to remove...

The Tyler Little Theater opened on May 16, 1939. It was built with funds from private donations, the City of Tyler and the Works Progress Administration. Designed by in the late Art Deco style by architect Shirley Simmons and constructed by R.L. Clanahan, the brick building featured two auditoriums. When World War II began, there were no longer enough men to continue performances and the theater shut down. The building is currently used as a church.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden in Tyler TX. A historical marker at the site reads: "The property that is now home to the Tyler Rose Garden was first purchased by the City of Tyler in 1912 for the construction of a park and fairgrounds. After many years and at the urging of the former American Rose Society President Dr. Horace McFarland, an application to the Works Project Administration (WPA) was made in 1938 to fund the construction of a municipal rose garden. The $181,255 federal grant was thought to be the largest municipal park and rose garden...

Tyler State Park was developed by CCC Company 2888 from 1935-1941: "Set into the Piney Woods of East Texas, Tyler State Park reflects two major park development efforts. The first, directed by landscape architect Ben K. Chambers, involved extensive forest reclamation and land rehabilitation that included tree planting, development of a road system, and construction of a dam and lake. Architect Joe C. Lair oversaw the other effort, which focused on the development of essential park buildings. Particularly noteworthy, the architect’s designs represent a clear break from the National Park Service rustic style so often used at CCC parks, including many...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 845 built facilities at Tyrrell Park. The CCC camp at Tyrrell Park began operations on November 24, 1935. CCC personnel worked on building drainage ditches, roads, nature trails, picnic tables, a horse stable, recreational buildings, entrance portal and a public golf course. The park is still in use, but most of the CCC structures have been neglected then torn down one-by-one. Hurricane Rita in 2005 and Hurricane Ike damaged the CCC-built clubhouse, and the damage has not been repaired.

The historic federal building in Waco, Texas was constructed during the Great Depression with Treasury Department funds. The building, which houses New Deal artwork, was constructed as the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse; the facility no longer houses any postal operations.